Persona 7
Persona 7 'is a game in the Persona series, it is the ninth installment of this series of role-playing games. ''Persona 7 is developed by Atlus and AlpacaSoft for the Playstation 4 Pro. This game, different from most other games in the series, has the player take the role of a female high school student, Kioko Shimada (She may also be named by the player), who moves into the rather small city of Koyanagi, where she gets involved with an alternate world known as The Carnival, where she and her newfound friends save the people of the city from the corrupt people in society. This installment in the series could be seen as a direct sequel to the acclaimed 2016 title, Persona 5, as it shares many concepts and ideas with that game. Plot Main Article: Persona 7/Story The story begins with Kioko Shimada moving out of Tokyo with her uncle to spend a year with him at his home city of Koyanagi, where she is enrolled into Yoshitomo Academy, there, she meets her first new friend, in the form of Masakado Shiro, and they discover a rumor about a ritual simply called "The Carnival Ritual" where, if one is to call a certain number, they will be taken to an alternate world. So, after Kioko calls her uncle to let him know they would be hanging out for a while and he shouldn't worry about her, and Masakado does the same for his parents, they head to a cafe near the school and call the number for the ritual, the room fills with a pink fog and the people who were eating and chatting around Kioko and Masakado all disappear, and they end up in an alternate world, presumably The Carnival. From their discovery of this world onwards, their lives and those of the people they bring into this spiral into madness as they uncover who or what created The Carnival in the first place. Gameplay Persona 7 plays very similarly to Persona 5, as it is a direct sequel, many features from P5 return in this game, along with a few new features and changes. naturally, the half-RPG, half-Social Simulator tradition continues in Persona 7, and it works mainly the same way as always. Overworld The game takes place in the fictional city of Koyanagi, where Kioko spends a year with her uncle, Yosutake, a large part of the city is open to simply walk around through, there are shops to get restoring items, equipment and weapons in, there are libraries and book stores to get books to read and increase social stats, the player can get DVDs to pass the time and increase social stats, there are various different things to do in the main world of the game. The social stats system returns, as previously mentioned, they are raised by certain actions throughout the overworld, such as reading, interacting with certain things and people at different times of the day, etc. Social stats also allow the player to choose certain dialogue options when prompted and allow them to raise their Soul Bond with certain characters. The five social stats are: '''Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness and Charm. Soul Bonds are Persona 7's ''version of the Social Links or Confidants from past games, they serve the same purpose as those systems, but, along with bonuses for the player, the party members will also be more helpful in battle, the higher the Soul Bond's rank with a party member, the higher the chance of them getting critical hits, helping Kioko in a Combo Attack and many more bonuses. For non-party members, the Soul Bonds work just like Confidants, certain ranks give the player certain bonuses to use while exploring The Carnival. Below is a list of all the available Soul Bonds in ''Persona 7, Bold 'are party members and ''Italics are automatic Bonds, that rank up with the story: * The Fool - Igor * '''The Magician - Yui Koharu * The High Priestess - Shume Takiji * The Empress - Kimi Takiyama * The Emperor - Yosutake Nagano * The Hierophant - Masakado Shiro * The Lovers - Maeko Natsu * The Chariot - Toyokazu Sasori * Strength - Alphonse * More TBA * Justice - Maresuke Yoshida * The Hanged Man - Nagao Katsumi * Death - Shoda Sasori * More TBA * The Devil - Masayuki Konda * More TBA Hideouts After the first infiltration begins, the characters will have a hideout where they can discuss their plans and heists for the Jester's Parade, from the different hideouts in the game, the player can plan out their moves, the available options at hideouts are: * Hold Meeting: '''Revise the progress the player has made into an Attraction in The Carnival and how far until they reach the Treasure. * '''Enter The Carnival: '''After The Carnival is free to be explored, the player can walk around and fight Shadows in it, the first two floors of The Carnival as just dark versions of the surface of Koyanagi and the subway system, but from the subways, the player can access Abbith, a maze of rocky paths and mirrors which is filled with dangerous enemies. The player can also enter the different Attractions, the dungeons of this game. * '''Send Calling Card: '''Once the treasure in an Attraction has been found, the player may warn the target of the incoming heist, the very next day, the heist and boss fight will take place. * '''Check Requests: Only available once The Carnival can be freely explored and the Jester's Forum has been set up, people will ask for minor heists that can be accomplished in The Carnival. The Carnival The Carnival is the alternate world of Persona 7, it is a pier carnival the size of Koyanagi that is shrouded in a dense, pink fog, it simply takes the form of a sort of mirrored Koyanagi with and all wooden surface, like an actual pier, The Carnival has some proper carnival attractions and rides in places of normal buildings, and any building that stays there is deserted. The Carnival is "built" atop a dark and mysterious cave system, known as Abbith, which can be accessed from the underground plaza in the subway system. From The Carnival, the player has a few different options, after a certain point in the game, they can explore it freely and head into Abbith to train between dungeons, or, as they are called here, Attractions, which are large dungeons ruled over by a person's Shadow. Abbith is based on an RNG, or Random Number Generator, in other words, the layout of Abbith is completely different everytime, on the other hand, Attractions are set, they have one layout and never change. The player will always start at a plaza at the center of Koyanagi/The Carnival, from there, they can talk to the party members to decide which three go with Kioko into the dungeons, the set-up can be changed whenever the player returns to the starting point and whenever the player enters either an Attraction or Abbith. Like in Persona 5, Attractions will fall apart once the treasure is stolen and the guardian is defeated, making it so that they can't be revisited, so the player must make sure to get everything in the dungeon before a heist. Attractions have security meters, if the player is spotted by enemies or falls into traps, the security percentage will go up, the higher it is, the stronger the enemies are, if it hits 100%, the player is kicked out of the Attraction for that day, before heists, the security meter goes all the way to 99%, but if the player chooses to go through the entire dungeon in a heist, the percentage can decrease by defeating enemies, but it won't go below 75%. Battle The battle system of Persona 7 is just about identical to previous games in the series, the player takes control of the four characters they took into the dungeon and has to use their different skills and abilities to defeat a certain amount of enemies, there are different actions available depending on which button on the controller the player presses: * X Button - Attack: 'Attacks with the character's equipped melee weapon. * '''O Button - Guard: '''Block against any incoming attack. * '△ Button - Persona: 'Use a Persona's skills. * '□ Button - Item: '''Use an item to restore stats or help in battle. * '''Up Button - Gun: '''Ready the character's equipped gun, then press X to fire at the target(s) * '''Down Button - Next Turn: '''Shows what character or enemy goes next in the battle. * '''L2 Button - Order: '''Select a special action to use next. ** '''Analysis: '''Analyze the enemies on the field, allows the player to see their HP, Personality Type, Elemental Affinities, etc. '''L1 serves as a shortcut for this action. ** Tactics: Assign tactics to party members, allowing them to act on their own, act as support, among others. ** Run: '''Run from battle if the enemy is too strong to begin with or the player is losing. Cannot be used if the enemy has the advantage or in boss battles. * '''R1 Button - Assist: '''If the player already knows the enemy's weakness, this button will instantly select a skill to use against the selected enemy. ' If the player hits all of the enemies' weaknesses and they fall down, the player will go into a Hold Up, where they have three options, they can perform an All-Out Attack, a powerful attack that has a large chance of finishing the fight, they can Break Formation, which returns to the battle without doing anything, or they can try negotiating with the enemy, they can then chat with them to get a new Persona or ask for money or an item, in exchange of letting the enemy go. The Velvet Room In many locations throughout ''Persona 7, The player will find blue tents or booths, interacting with the booths leads to the Velvet Room, a place between mind and matter, where Igor and his assistant, Alphonse, live to help their guests, in this case, Kioko Shimada. In the Velvet Room, the player can fuse Personas in many different ways to make new ones, check the Persona Compendium, an archive of all their Personas, they can buy back the Personas they already had and they can leave their Persona to grow stronger there. A new feature is Persona Trading, if the console is connected to the Internet, the player can look through a listing of people who offer up different Personas for another one that they may want or need. Online Features Online features return and they work in much the same way as Persona 5's online features, the player can, at the press of a button, check what other players around the world did at that certain day, be it spending time with Soul Bond characters, going to The Carnival, etc. In The Carnival, the player can also count on the Thieves' Guild to help them in certain cases, such as hostage situations or if an enemy is trying to run away. Characters Protagonists Neutral Antagonists Demons & Personas Main Article: Persona 7/List of Shadows The enemies, or Shadows, in Persona 7 are just demons and creatures that mindlessly follow the Attraction's master because they are very strong Shadows on their own, Personas are gained through negotiating with demons to get them on the player's side, above is a full list of all the demons in the game, their stats, proper names and their Shadow names. Bosses The listing below will only show the major dungeon bosses and optional bosses in Persona 7, mini bosses are listed above along with regular Shadows. Dungeons There are a few different dungeons in Persona 7, The Carnival is the main one, a hub of sorts from which all the others are accessed. * 'The Carnival: '''A hub dungeon that the player can explore to reach all of the other dungeons in the game, it has two floors, the surface and the subway system, the surface houses any enemy from Attractions the player can completed and the Attractions themselves, the subways house stronger enemies and the entrance into Abbith * '''Abbith: '''A dark cave system beneath The Carnival, the walls are rocky and sharp, save for the mirrors along them, more of Abbith can be accessed as the player beats the Attractions of the game and the Jester's Parade becomes more well known. There are three types of rooms in this randomly generated dungeon, small rooms, which are part of the pathways and are either treasure chests or dead ends, large rooms, which may contain better treasure and some enemies, and the staircase room, that leads further into Abbith. If the player spends too much time in a floor, they might find The Reaper. ** '''Path of Yaddith: '''A red and black maze of dark and narrow corridors filled with weaker demons, it can be accessed soon after Shinsato Takiji's mission is completed. This Path consists of 5 floors. ** '''Path of Vhoorl: '''A purple maze of corridors filled with stronger enemies, compared to the first Path, at least. It is available once Masashige is defeated and consists of 8 floors. ** '''Path of Kythanil: '''A dark green maze with powerful enemies, it can be accessed once Sasori's Shadow is defeated. This Path has 11 floors. ** '''Path of Karthis: '''A yellow maze with very strong foes to face off against, this is where Abbith's floors become more open, leading up to the depths. This Path has 15 floors and is available once Hiroshi Yanagi's mission is completed. ** '''Path of Yilla: '''A darker Path than the others, with larger floors, some of the strongest foes await the player down here, the Path of Yilla consists of 19 floors and is available once Kumiko Terauchi is defeated. ** '''Path of Yuggoth: '''The shortest path in the game, with only 3 floors, but the first two are massive and expansive, with lots to explore before reaching the Depths of Abbith. This Path is available once the player defeats Seiho Shinohara. Along with The Carnival and Abbith, there are also the set dungeons of the game, the Attractions, which are ruled by the Shadows of people with strong desires. * '''Takiji's Attraction: '''A large military base with spotlights and strict guards, representing Shinsato's strict methods of teaching, there are cognitive students being forced to train. The Treasure of this Attraction is an oversized golden star, resembling a military badge. Shadow Takiji is fought during the heist. * '''Masashige's Attraction: '''A Mayan pyramid with hieroglyphs on the walls and people being sacrificed in prison cells, the Treasure is the staff that Shadow Masashige often carries. Masashige's Shadow is fought in this Attraction's heist. * '''Sasori's Attraction: '''A theater with all the seats taken up by gray, faceless people, except for two seats, reserved for Shoda's parents. His Treasure is a family picture, or at least that's how it appears in the real world. Shadow Sasori is fought in the heist. * '''Yanagi's Attraction: '''A large factory that produces weapons and people, representing how Hiroshi is corrupt and will create false evidences and witnesses to win a case and arrest someone he doesn't like. The Treasure of the Attraction is Yanagi' police badge, in both The Carnival and the real world. Hiroshi Yanagi's Shadow is fought during the heist. * '''Terauchi's Attraction: '''A massive dollhouse/mansion where Terauchi's Shadow dwells, the guards here double as cognitive existences representing Kumiko's followers and how she sees them. The Treasure is a golden heart statue, Shadow Terauchi is fought during the heist. * '''Seiho's Attraction: '''A huge circus tent that functions like a castle, it has several floors, traps and secret passages. The heist of this Attraction has the Jester's Parade facing off against Seiho Shinohara's Shadow to get his treasure, a big golden flag from the top of the tent. * '''Depths of Abbith: '''An Attraction at the bottom of Abbith, it is filled with powerful demons and tricky puzzles to solve, the Jester's Parade comes here to steal the public's hearts when a disturbing broadcast and pink fog suddenly appear one day, signaling that whatever is behind The Carnival is making its move. Soundtrack Themes * GUMI - Carnival (Opening Theme) * Corner of Memories (Main Menu Theme) * Aria of the Soul (Velvet Room Theme) * Life Will Change -Instrumental- (Heist Theme) * Life Will Change (Final Heists) * Desire (Shadow Self Theme) * Blood Of Villain (Pre-Boss Theme) * I'll Face Myself (Post-Boss Theme) * Confrontation (Azathoth's Awakening) * Traumerei (Sadness + Good Ending) * Never More (Credits Theme) Locations * School Days (Overworld Daytime) * Heartbeat, Heartbreak (Overworld Nighttime + Rainy) * Corridor (The Carnival + Bad Endings) * Layer Cake (Takiji's Attraction) * The Days When My Mother Was There (Masashige's Attraction) * A Woman (Sasori's Attraction) * Sweatshop (Yanagi's Attraction) * Ice Castle (Terauchi's Attraction) * Memory (Seiho's Attraction) * Abbith * Deva Yuga (Depths of Abbith) Battle * Light The Fire Up In The Night (Normal Battle) * Keeper of Lust (Mini Boss Battle) * I'll Face Myself -Battle- (Awakening Boss Battle) * The Person is Then Called Away From War (Boss Battle 1) * SEBEC (Boss Battle 2) * Azathoth (Final Battle) * We Are One And All (Mephisto vs. Azathoth) Trivia * The different paths in Abbith are named after planets in the Lovecraft mythos, Abbith itself is named after the planet in which Nyarlathotep dwells, linking back to the Persona 2 duology, where the main villain was Nyarlathotep. * The general theme of the game is that of loss of humanity, and it is shown in a few different ways. ** As the game progresses, Kioko devotes herself to her "supposed justice", as many call it, and loses her fun-loving and outgoing side to some extent. ** Azathoth's main goal is to stop people from wanting more, from growing as members of society, and having them regress into mindless slaves for his "perfect world". ** The villains of the game use their own tactics to, unknowingly, help Azathoth, they intimidate and control people into being their followers, students or whatever else. ** The theme of the alternate world, being a large carnival, links to clowns, which are associated with the uncanny valley, where things look human but aren't, which makes them disturbing. * This theme of losing one's humanity links back to Persona 5 with its theme of freedom, with the characters wanting to be free from these cruel authority figures and from the elder god, Azathoth, himself. * ''Persona 7 essentially started out as an original AlpacaSoft game by the name of Neon Exorcists, it borrowed a lot from Persona 5, so it was cancelled out of fear that it would be called a rip-off, but some time later, Persona 7 was created, marketed as a direct sequel to Persona 5 Category:Fan Games Category:Persona Games Category:Shin Megami Tensei Games Category:PlayStation 4 Pro Games Category:Rated M Games Category:Rated 16 Games Category:Rated B CERO Games Category:Role-Playing Games Category:Shin Megami Tensei (series)